The show must go on for the 'rocked' group Slank
By Achmad Nurhoeri
JAKARTA (JP): The show must go on. Easy to say when everything goes exactly as planned. But easy times never last, especially in the capricious world of Indonesian show business where only the strong can survive.
When the going gets tough and the tough get going, every performer is put in the hot seat. Sometimes just a benign shrug can reduce a huge showcase to tatters. But sometimes a typhoon is not enough to blow an act away. Last Monday, rock band Slank showed that, despite their many battle scars, they can still stand tall.
Their story is a unique chronicle of five scruffy long-haired young lads, whose obnoxious street-talk and rebel-without-a-cause attitude led them to fame, fortune and, eventually, the end of their camaraderie.
The legend bundles up three distinct episodes. The first part began in 1983 and switched courses six years later when, at last, the garage band got their break in the industry. The second part was the dream of every hard music-loving post-juvenile delinquent, a band with albums that sell like hot cakes. The third began this year after in-fighting that almost buried them.
Like most teenagers anywhere in this music industry-obsessed world, drum maniac Bimo "Bimbim" Sidharta and blues bassist Bongky Marcel in 1983 wanted to be rock stars. With three other buddies, they formed Slank. The names of the other three eventually vanished in history after the garage band underwent fifteen reshuffles. Currently, there only remains Bimbim, whose house is now the perfect hangout for Slank and its followers due to his mom's willingness to remodify it into a music studio and office, is still with the band.
During the years of reshuffling, Slank began its climb up the stairway to stardom. The founding duo eventually picked up talented guitarist Parlin "Pay" Burman and keyboardist whizkid Indra Qadarsih. Both joined Slank in 1988. Pay entered in the 9th formation and Indra in the 13th. A year later, Bimbim's 16-year- old cousin Akhadi "Kaka" Satriaji, who was set to be thrown out by his parents, made the best decision of his notorious life. He joined the Slank crew as lead singer and became the band's symbol of defiance. It made the band perfect. And in its 14th lineup, Slank was ready to go public.
They have introduced music that defies conventional norms of harmony and composition. Kaka's voice is strong and high, ear- piercing sometimes, but always original with his mischievous false notes here and there. Their music is a jumble of blues, hard rock, reggae and lots of out-of-nowhere cacophony. Their vocab is pithy, simple street-wise language that would have true Indonesian linguists throwing their hands up in horror. Their theme is about matters they know best -- the restlessness of Generation X, or what they call Generasi Biru (Blue Generation).
On Monday night they did fine for a group fresh from turmoil. They played 24 songs in two hours and set the house on fire. At first the venue seemed quiet for a Slank show. Usually, the slamming begins when the music starts at one of their shows, but the Hard Rock Cafe crowd is a tad more discriminating in their behavior.
"We want to measure ourselves. We want to continue this Slank dynasty. We succeeded in entertaining our regular fans last week at the Jakarta Fair. Now we want to know if these elites could acknowledge us," Bimbim told the Post.
Fortunately, among the young elites, there were also die-hard fans (Slankers) who could not see their idols ignored. All six initial songs had political messages and seemed to heat up the Slankers. The 1994 hits like Feodalisme (Feudalism) and Birokrasi Komplex (Complicated Bureaucracy) showed that Slank are not politically-illiterate spoiled brats. But it seemed self- defeating in giving such messages to an audience swathed in Italian brand name outfits, the elite class who profit from the very situations the Slank guys criticize. Hot issues like nepotism or East Timor (in this year's Just Kidding) did not ring even a faint bell in this crowd of dandies.
But they lost a significant part of their music due to the absence of keyboardist Indra, who likes to produce strange and creative sounds from his MIDI gadget. Their performance was coarse. Ivan and Renold are still way under the brilliant Pay and the composed Bongky. Oldies like Bangsat (Bugs) and Generasi Biru were off the mark. It was apparent that Kaka and Bimbim tried hard to lift their colleagues' composure. Fortunately, Kaka still has that unique voice of his.
"I admit that we have a new touch now. We're more vigorous," explained Bimbim, his sentiments reiterated with a nod from Ivan.
At midway, the two reserves even took a break, their stamina sapped by the fast tempo of their seniors. Bimbim and Kaka showed that they were able to handle the crowd alone. Kaka, who had long cast off his shirt, lulled the audience with the 1995 Bidadari Penyelamat (Angel Savior). After three songs, the newbies showed up again. Ten songs followed and Slank closed the night with their most melodious tune from 1989 Terlalu Manis (Too Sweet). The audience of models, rich kids, yuppies and diehard fans greeted the song with delight. They even shouted "We want more" again and again.
The encore was fiery. The cafe became a moshpit. One body flying here, another body flipping there. It was just perfect for their 1997 song, Anarki di RI (Anarchy in RI) that tells of the riots terrifying the nation in recent times.
"I think the fans accept us like before," said Bimbim.
Slank certainly has come a long way. In Bimbim's words, "Slank will always be Slank". And if last Monday is anything to go by, its show definitely will go on.